January 22, 2001 - What happens when a girl gets three haircuts
in one month?
January 22, 2001 - What happens when a girl gets three haircuts
in one month? |
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The Haircut (1998) Probably the greatest pleasure I have is teaching Vela new things -- very simple things like buying her first pair of shoes or getting her first haircut. (Vela did not even know how to tie a pair of shoe laces.) Vela had never been to a barber before. She kept asking me if she could go to a beauty saloon. A beauty saloon is expensive ($10 - $20) so we went to a regular barber shop ($1 - $3). We all sat in the chairs waiting while each of the kids got a haircut. The barber washed Vela's hair and gave her a reasonable haircut. Then the barber brushed himself off to get all the insects off him that live in Vela's hair. (I could not tell if it were ticks or lice... but the barber was not happy.) |
A week later, Vela begged me for another haircut. So away we went again to get her another haircut. About two weeks after that, Vela wanted yet another haircut. She loves having people pay attention to her or wait on her... specially men. By the time she had three haircuts in one month, she looked like a boy. Ops!!! Being a boy has tremendous advantages in India. She can travel and she play as a boy (such as swimming like a boy) and no one will bother her. But now Vela is all grown up (13) so when I visit Vela and ask her if she wants a haircut, she grins and says "No, no, no." |
With her short haircut, Vela became one of
the boys. |
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This is my favorite picture of Vela.
The last day of my first trip to India, Vela was clowning around. I rented a camera and got some pictures of her. The local kids were so amused with me taking pictures of Vela, they carried her around on their shoulders like a king. Vela was having a wonderful time as you can see. |
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